Article handling apparatus



Sept. 2 2, 1942.

P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. '7, 1941 9 Sheets-Sheetl INVEN TOR P. M COLE A TTORNEY Sept. 22, 1942.

F I G. 2

P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. '7, 1941 9 Sheets-Sheet2 INVEN T015 P. u. COLE A TTORNEY P 1942- P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLINGAPPARATUS 9 Sheets-Sheet :5

Filed Jan. '7, 1941 INVENTOR RM. COLE A TTORNEY P. M. COLE Sept. 22,1942.

ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS 9 Sheets-She et 4 Filed Jan. 7-, 1941 Sept.22, 1942.

P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLI NG APPARATUS 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. '7,1941 /Ill IN VEN TOR R M. COLE ATTORNEY P. M. COLE Sept. 22, 1942.

ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. '7, 1941 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORP. M. COLE A TTORNEY p 1942, P. M. COLE 2,296,425

ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Jan. '7, 1941 9 Sheets-Sheet 7' /m /vTOR @25 2. ATTORNEY P P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS 9Sheets-Shet 8 Filed Jan. '7, 1941 muvlllllllln 1:1 gun-nun 33' FIG. II

FIG. 10

lN-VENTOR RM. 60L

\ ATTORNEY Sept. 22, 1942. P. M. COLE ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUS FiledJan. 7, 1941 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 FIG. I7

ATTOENEY Patented Sept. 22, 1942 2,296,425 ARTICLE HANDLING APPARATUSPaul M. Cole, Meadville, Pa., assignor to Western Electric Company,Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationJanuary 7, 1941, Serial No. 373,466

2 Claims.

This invention relates to article handling apparatus, and moreparticularly to apparatus for orienting, magazining and securing partsin place on other members, especially adapted to handle and secure smallparts of irregular form.

There are innumerable instances in industry where a blank or more orless irregular form, for example the sheet metal punching for aterminal, hereinafter described, is to be placed in a specific relationto and position on a member, such as the cord hereinafter described, towhich it is then to be secured by clamping or other suitable means. Inmany such cases the blanks present unusual difficulties where they areto be handled by automatic machinery because they are of irregularwidths along one dimension so that the center of gravity of such a blankis some distance from its center of length. They are particularlydifficult to control in a case such as the one herein illustrated, inwhich the blank, although generally symmetrical about one longitudinalplane through its center, is unsymmetrical and unbalanced with respectto both of the planes through its center at right angles to each otherand to the one plane of symmetry. The blanks in question, being suppliedto the apparatus from cartons, boxes or the like in which they lie inhelter-skelter orientation, present problems of individual orientation,of alignment and control of orderly arrangement in and presentation froma magazine or other supply means of individual application in properposition for attachment in place, and .of maintenance in such positionwhile being secured in place.

An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus to magazineand deliver oriented parts or blanks or other articles of the generalcharacter described, one or more at a time in oriented relation to areceiving member.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention may beembodied in a tubular magazine to receive oriented articles fed theretoin sequence and to maintain the same in oriented sequence together withmeans to prevent disturbance of the orientation of the articles in themagazine or while being delivered therefrom one at a time.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from thefollowing detailed description of one embodiment thereof taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which the same reference.numerals are applied to' identical parts in the several figures and inwhich 7 Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in front elevation of an apparatusconstructed in accordance with the invention; 7

Fig. 2 is a similar plan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a similar end view thereof on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detached broken view of the hopper;

Fig. 5 is a partial, broken, vertical section through the assemblingpress on the line 5-5 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a partial view on Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a view on the line 1'l of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a view corresponding to Fig. 6 with the parts in anotherposition;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged longitudinal section to show the magazine deliverymechanism;

Fig. 10 is a View on the line Iii-l0 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a view on the line Il--Il of Fig. 9;

Fig. 12 is a View on the line l2-l2 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 13 is an enlarged detached broken view of the outer member of theblank orienting device shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 14 is a similar view of the inner member thereof;

Fig. 15 is a broken plan view, somewhat enlarged, of a mechanism forremoving the finished product from the apparatus, omitted from Fig. 2;

Fig. 16 is an end elevation thereof;

Fig. 17 is a front elevation thereof;

Fig. 18 is a much enlarged view in perspective of a terminal blankbefore clamping; and

Fig. 19 is a similar view thereof after clamping.

The invention is herein disclosed and illustrated as applied to thedoing of a specific and narrowly limited operation, namely to receive anumber of blanks, punched and formed of metal to have the shape shown at20 in Fig. 18, assemble these on an insulated electrical conductor cord2|, and clamp them in place on the cord as shown in Fig. 19. Details ofthe particular machine selected to be presented here as an illustrativeembodiment of the invention are controlled by the specific shapes of theterminal blanks 20 and cord 2|. Modifications required to adapt themachine to deal with analogous operations on parts of like nature withthe terminal blanks 20 are within the scope of the invention.

The terminal blanks 20, as received, comprise integrally a flat forkedcontact portion 22, a short fiat neck 23 and an unfinished U-shapedsleeve portion 24, whose upstanding sides are serrated at their upperedges forming teeth 25, each tooth on either side being opposite aninterthe line 64 of tooth space on the other side. When clamped in placeon the cord, the teeth 25 of each side are to intercalate with the teeth25 of the opposite side, as shown in Fig. 18, while other points orprongs I9 on the floor of the sleeve 24 stand up therefrom to cutthrough the insulating sheath of the cord 2| and make electrical contactwith the metallic conducting core of the cord;

A supply of these terminal blanks 20 is dumped into a hopper 26. In thefloor of the hopper is a pair of vertically disposed, verticallyreciprocable tumbling and orienting devices, 21 and 28 respectively,which are shown per se in Figs. 4, 12, 13 and 14, and in relation to therest of the machine in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. They are reciprocatedvertically in any suitable fashion, as by a weighted lever 29 and cam 30driven continuously while the machine is operating in any suitablefashion. These devices 21 and 28 are shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4 atsubstantially the upper limit of their reciprocation. At the lowerlimit, their upper ends will be down nearly flush with the floor of thehopper.

There being a supply of blanks 2e dumped into the h pper and lyinghelter-skelter around and over the devices 21 and 28 in their lowerpositions, these are set in motion. Since these two devices areidentically alike in structure and operation, it will be sufficient todescribe and follow only the device 21. This consists essentially of twomembers or parts, one an outer vertical hollow cylinder 3|, having anopen top and a closed bottom and formed with a suitably proportioneddownward extension 32 to'connect with the lever 29. The other part is astem 33, located coaxially within the cylinder 3| to move rigidlytherewith. A guide ring 34, which is also in effect a valve box, issuitably supported under the hopper and has a vertical bore in which thecylinder is slidably supported and guided. This cylinder has two ports35 and 36 in its side Wall near the bottom of its bore. Port 35, at thebottom, is a simple circular bore. Port 36, located a little above theport 35, is keyhole shaped, a circular bore with a communicatingvertical narrower slot extending up therefrom. The stationary support orvalve box 34 has a plain circular port 31 to be closed by the cylinder3| except when aligned with either of the ports 35 and 36. The port 3'!is connected to a suitable supply of compressed air (not shown) by apipe 38.

The stem 33 is a cylinder of less diameter than the bore of the cylinder3| over its entire length except at each end, Where it is formed withflanges which fit and close the bore of the cylinder 3|. These flangespreferably have a drive fit in the bore to hold the stem rigidly inplace within the cylinder 3|. The length over all of the stem is alittle less than the length of the bore in which it is seated. The topends of both the cylinder 3| and stem 33 are inwardly chambered orcountersunk to form a single conically inwardly sloping guide surface39. There is an annular chamber '49 between the side walls of thecylinder 3| and of the body of the stem 33, closed at both ends by theflanges 4| and '42 of the stem 'at the top and bottom respectively. Thetop flange 4| is provided with as large a plurality of small, verticalbores or perforations 43 as possible,-communicating from the chamber '48to the outer air. There is also a small chamber 44 between the bottom ofthe flange #2 and the 'bottom wall of the bore of the cylinder 3|. Anaxial bore 45 through the length of the stem 33 communicates from thechamber 44 to the open air above the surface 39. The port 35 opensradially outwardly from the chamber 44.

The top end of the bore 45 is so proportioned that it will admit thedouble flanged sleeve portion 24 of a blank but will not admit the widerforked terminal 22. As the device 21 rises through the tumbledunoriented blanks piled over it in the hopper, it may chance that a moreor less vertically aligned blank will slip into the bore 45 and remainhanging vertically therein supported by its fork. Or it may chance thatthe device will pick up a blank and carry it up riding horizontallyacross the top of the device. In the latter case the blank willordinarily lie fiatwise. When the top of the keyhole port 36 registerswith the port 31, a small amount of compressed air will enter thechamber 43 and blow, comparatively gently, up through the numerous bores43, tending to lift the blank lying over them. Since the clam or sleeveportion 24 of the blank is heavier than the fork portion 22 and alsopresents less effective surfaces to the air, the blank tends to turninto a vertical position and so to slip down into the bore 45, sleeveend first. As soon as it does this, the clamp is removed from theefie'c't of the air from the bores 43.

If this effect is not attained and the blank reinains across the top ofthe cylinder 3|, an abruptly more violent blast through the bores 43will displace it, to fall back with the rest, when the circular largerbottom of the keyhole port registers with the port 37. It is to be notedthat no pressure air is admitted to the bore 45 until after the port 36is closed by rising completely above the port 31, thus cutting off thesupply of air to the chamber 49.

A little later, the port 35 registers with the port 3''! and a suddenblast of full pressure air goes up the bore 45, sufiicientl'y powerfulto blow a blank hanging in the top of the bore up out of the bore andinto the downwardly opening end of a tubular magazine 43 directly overand in line with the bore 45.

The tubular magazine 43 curves over to the left, down, forward, andfinally slantingly down to the right. The inertia of the blown up blankis suflicient to carry it around the top curve of the magazine and intothe downward part where the weight of the blank carries it on down. Toprevent jamming in the magazine in case blanks are thus supplied to itfaster than they are removed below, a transverse slide 41 is positionedto be slidable across the bore of the magazine to close this a littleabove its entrance end. This slide is actuable in familiar fashion by asolenoid 48 and spring 4-9. v

It is to be noted that the center of gravity of each blank is near theplane of the fork of the blank. Hence in sliding down the main portionof the tubular magazine under gravity, the blank will come to lie withthe tooth-edged flanges of its sleeve uppermost.

For convenience in drawing and numbering, the device 21 has beendescribed in detail, the device 28 being identically similar. For likereasons the right hand magazine 56, having a cut off slide 5|, asolenoid "5' 2 and a spring and supplied by the device 28, will bedescribed in further detail, the left magazine being in all respects,except orientation, the same.

A little below the top curve of the magazine 50, it passes thrbughadouble gate valve generally indicated at 54. A primary purpose of thisvalve is to prevent air blasts from the bore 45 from passing into thedownward part of the magazine to disturb blanks aligned therein. The twotransversely sliding gates 55 and 56 are actuated by opposite ends of acentrally pivoted lever 51, actuated in turn by a link 58. The gates 55and 56 are spaced apart along the magazine a distance to convenientlyreceive between them one blank. Normally the lower gate 56 is closed andthe upper gate 55 is open. The valve 54 is so synchronized in actionwith the device 28, that the valve will operate only after the blast hasbeen cut off through the bore 45 and while the device 28 is moving down.The gate 56 then permits the newly blown up blank, if any, to slide ondown the magazine, while the gate 55 closes above the blank to bar outblasts of air from below.

Turning now to the left magazine again and to details shown in Figs. 9and 10, the tubular magazine 46 delivers the properly oriented andaligned blanks in sequence to the downwardly slanting trough 59 of ablank delivery control device generally indicated at 69. In the bottomof this trough and near its upper end, a pair of electrical contactmembers 6| and 62, insulated from each other and from thetrough byinsulation 63, is mounted to be electrically connected together by thetop blank of the longest sequence of blanks desired to be contained inthe device 60 at any time. These contacts 6| and 62 are connected bymeans (not shown) to a power source (not shown) and to the solenoid 48in such fashion that so long as the contacts are bridged by a blank thesolenoid will actuate the slide 41 to prevent any more blanks from beingdelivered into the magazine 46. The contacts are here shown quite closeto the delivery end of the magazine and delivery control. In other casesthan the specific one described herein, it may be preferable to locatethese contacts higher, e. g. in the tube 46 proper.

A lever 64 is pivoted at its upper end to the slide of the upper part ofthe trough 59. One arm 65 extends down along the trough and carries atransversely disposed stop member 66, normally resting on the trough toprevent a blank therein from passing on down. The arm 65 further has anintegral normally horizontally extending finger 61, whose outer end liesbeside the trough 68 of the magazine 58 and engages under a pin 69 on asimple blank stop lever pivoted on the trough 68 and having a transverseblank stop member ll. Thus when the lever 64 is raised to release ablank in the left hand trough 59, the finger 61 simultaneously raisesthe lever 19 to release a blank from the trough 68. The lever 64 hasanother arm extending downwardly and bent to the right by which thelever 64 may be cammed up.

For clarity of understanding, it is well to remember that the tubes 46and 50 curve forwardly from the hopper, as well as down and toward eachother, so that the two troughs 59 and 68 are in one vertical plane, infront of and generally below the hopper. The two troughs oppose eachother, so that the two blanks simultaneously delivered by the troughsare oriented oppositely, having their two fork ends approximated andtheir sleeve ends apart. This is a peculiarity of the specific problemhere in question. In case of blanks of other form, or to be deliveredall in like orientation, the tubes 68 and 50 might be curved to bringthe troughs into substantially parallel alignment, or one magazine mightbe dispensed with.

Under the lower ends of the troughs 59 and 68, is a horizontalstationary table 12, over which slides (from left to right in Figs. 1, 9and 11) a pair of sprocket chains, 13' and 14 respectively, runningparallel to each other over various double idler sprockets 16 as shownand driven by the double sprocket 15. Work nests 11, best shown in Figs.5, 6, 7 and 8, are mounted on and between the chains tobe carried alongthereby under the troughs 59 and 68. A reciprocable cover plate 19,yieldably held in the position shown in Fig. 9 by a compression spring89, lies horizontally between the troughs 59 and 68 above and the chains13 and 14 below. In the position of Fig. 9, the plate 19 closes theexits of the troughs until a nest I1 is brought along by the chains.Each nest has at its rear a pivotable pawl 18 held in the position shownin Fig. 9 by the contact of its lower end with the table 12 until itslower end falls into the slot 8| in the table when the pawl may rockcounterclockwise. The upper end of the pawl is adapted to catch the leftend of the slidable plate 19 and carry the plate along toward the rightuntil the pawl is released. The spring then returns the .cover plate 19to its normal position.

The plate 19 is provided with two T-shaped slots so located andproportioned that when the nest registers under the outlets of thetroughs the slots also register, and blanks, released at this moment bythe lifting of the levers 64 and 18, will fall from the troughs, throughthe slots, and come to rest in the nest in the positions in the nestshown in Figs. 6 and 5. The blanks are snugged down into the gentlefrictional grip of the nests by passing under the cover plate 19.

Turning again to Figs. 1 and 5 to 8, the chains carry the nest along tothe right horizontally, then slightly upward over one of the doubleidler sprockets, and thence horizontally across the bed plate of a punchpress. As the nest travels up the incline, it is met by the strand orcord 2| upon which the terminal blanks are tobe clamped. The cord 2| isdrawn from a suitable supply reel H4, over a guide sheave H5, and undera guide sheave H6 to lie longitudinally along the two blanks in the nestdown in the U-shaped sleeve portion of each of the blanks as shown inFig. 5. The showing of the cord 2| is omitted from Fig. 6 to avoidconfusion.

A spring supported table 84 is mounted on the bed 83 of the press andformed with an undercut slot 85 to pass and support the chains and nestsas they advance over the bed plate, and to keep these, while moving,above and clear of two symmetrically identical blocks 86 and 81 rigidlymounted on the press bed. The blocks 86 and 81 are so spaced apart,longitudinally of the sprocket chains, as to receive the nest betweenthem when the latter is forced down together with the table, and thusposition'the nest accurately under the ram 88 of the press to registerwith the punch 89. Spring pressed guide fingers 98 in the blocks 86 and81 receive the necks of the blanks in the nest between them and positionthese accurately in forming surfaces 9| on the blocks. Correspondingforming surfaces 92 are provided on the punch 89 to convert the necks ofthe blanks from the form shown in Fig. 18 to that of Fig. 19. The punchis further provided with downwardly projecting knives 93 to cut away thecord between the necks of the two formed terminals in a nest asindicated at 94 in Fig. 19.

On leaving the forming and cutting press of Figs. to 8, the chains andnests pass through the devices shown in Figs. 15, 16 and 1'7, Where theformed and severed cords are removed. Each completed cord leaving theforming press consists of a piece of strand severed from the supply andhaving a terminal clamped on each end. One of these terminals is held inthe rear part of one nest. The other is held in the front part of thenext following nest. The cord or strand between these two terminals isunder a slight longitudinal tension due to the drag of the strand beingdrawn from the supply. The two nests shown in Fig. 15 arrive at theposition shown there as the chains stop for the press to act' on theterminals in the next nest. Just before'arriving at the position shown,a pin 95 on the return side of the'chain -14 has actuated an electricalswitch generally indicated at 96, which in turn by means not shownfhas'opened a valve 97 to supply compressed-air to pipes 98 and 99. The nestsslide over andrest on a flat track I00. The pipe 99 communicates with around ended nozzle llll extending slightly above the surface of thetrack to register in the bottom of a corresponding perforation I02 underthe neck of the terminal in the front "portion of the left hand nest T!(Fig. 15). Thus this terminal is blown up out of the nest. At the samemoment the terminal in the rear portion of the front nest is similarlyblown up and out of the nest. The terminals move up until they eachstrike a horizontal deflector I93 directly over each nest. Here theyencounter a horizontal transverse air blast from a nozzle I04 fed fromthe same air supply and are blown out sidewise with their cord to fallclear of the apparatus intoany suitable receptacle not shown.

The apparatus generally is drivenfrom a main shaft I86 (Fig. 2) which inturn is'driven from some power source not shown. The moving parts of theunit for orienting and delivering blanks to the nests, includingparticularly'thc lever 29and the'link 5B are continuously operated fromthe shaft Iilfi through the shaft I111. The shaft I08, which drives thenest chains, is driven from the shaft I06 through a clutch devicegenerally indicate'd'at H39; This clutch is actuated by a bell'cra'nk'lever Hi] actuated by a link Ill connecte'd'to'another' lever H2connected to a solenoid H3 actuable by the switch I05. The lever I I2 isalso connected .to the conventional trip mechanism of the press. Thusthe nest chains are stopped by actuation of the clutch H19 while thepress is tripped to drive its punch down on a nest.

The present invention relates particularly to the arrangements wherebythe oriented blanks have their orientation preserved While passing into,through and out of the magazine. The general organization of which thisis one component is no part of the present invention, being describedand claimed in copending application Serial No.'373,464, filed of evendate herewith by the same inventor.

The specific embodiment herein disclosed to illustrate the invention is,as pointed out above, conditioned as to detail by the form and purposeof the specific problem for which it is designed, and may be modifiedand departed from in various ways without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as pointed out in and limited only by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus 'for receiving, storing and delivering oriented articlesto-a receiving member, which apparatus comprises a tubular magazine toreceive oriented articles transferred thereto and to contain the same inoriented sequence, valve means in the delivery end of the magazine todeliver an article to a receiving member having a recess therein, thesaid valve means comprising a perforated slide to pass anarticle'from'the magazine to the recess of the receiving member in oneposition of the slide and to seat the article in the recess of themember while moving to another position of the slide.

2. Apparatus for receiving, storing and delivering oriented articles toa receiving member, which apparatus comprises a tubular magazine toreceive oriented articles transferred thereto and to contain the same inoriented sequence, valve means in the delivery end of the magazine todeliver an article to a receiving member having a recess therein formedto receive and frictionally retain an .article', the saidvalve meanscomprising a perforated slide to pass an article from the magazine tothe recess of the receiving member in one position of the slide and toseat the article in the recess of the member while moving to anotherposition of the slide.

PAUL M. COLE.

